(Adnkronos) – The interrogation of the Ligurian governor Giovanni Toti, who has been under house arrest since May 7th for corruption, lasted 8 hours. Starting at 11am he answered the questions of the prosecutors in charge of the investigation which caused an earthquake in local politics, rejecting all the accusations. “In my political career I have always pursued the public interest which is the sole and ultimate aim of my political action”, is one of the passages of the memory handed over to the prosecutors during the interrogation, in which he underlines how every euro was used for politics”.
A public interest “constantly claimed by the political program of the majority that supports me, not through opposition to the demands of private individuals, but rather through the conveyance of these towards the interest of the community and the territory, the way in which the best essence of the public interest” explains governor Toti in the 17-page memorandum. “The beacon of our political action sees private activity not as a selfish factor to be counteracted but as a resource which, left to grow in compliance with the rules, represents an added value for the community as a primary element of social and economic development”. The accusatory system, which analyzes “only a very limited part of the relationships between the administration, the president, and the world of work and business” does not give the right picture of Toti. “All my actions (even those contested) were inspired, certainly by the right attention towards companies operating in the area, but with the sole perspective of protecting the collective interest and its progress”.
For Toti, all businesses were treated with the same attention, “in the absolute postulate that every entrepreneurial initiative, as long as it is not in conflict with the laws or codified market rules, can be considered of public interest, bringing wealth and work, directly and indirectly”.
“I have never exceeded the specific competences of the bodies and offices in charge, I have never interfered in the free choices and decisions of the subjects involved, I have never put pressure on any subject, I have never served a particular interest to the detriment of the collective one”, is another passage of memory. “Never has this attention expressed itself in overcoming or modifying the opinion of its own offices or the investigations of third-party bodies, such as the port authority offices. My intervention at the political/functional level has always been strictly limited to the authorization path traced by the relevant offices in every field, limiting itself to asking for attention consistent with the needs of market speed, or to carry out the works requested by the other administrative and government bodies (port, Mayor Bucci’s Commissioner structures) or to solicit, within the administrative paths and legislative, the diligence and attention of the Ligurian Municipalities in implementing regional strategic plans”, adds Toti.
“My political action has always been aimed at protecting the dignity and prestige of the Region and its institutions”, “every intervention in favor of economic initiatives has been public” and “even every donation of money is done with maximum transparency”, the Ligurian governor writes again. Among the charges, the actual transfers to the political committees are contested, but the president of the Liguria Region defends himself: “Every donation of money was credited with traceable methods and accounted for. Likewise all the expenses incurred (both in support of my activity politics as leader of the Toti list present in the Regional Council and in many municipal administrations, both to support mayors, lists and candidates connected and consistent with the political line of the Toti list, and with regard to the initiatives of the government coalition) were reported and publicized in terms of the law and beyond. The budgets and reports were (and still are) published on the websites of the political organizations in my support”.
“Every euro collected had a political destination: no contribution produced personal enrichment or utility for me, for others belonging to my party or for private third parties” remarked Toti. “And precisely to dispel every minimum possible suspicion and guarantee maximum transparency and possibility of control, particular attention was paid to separating every economic aspect of my private life from any economic activity linked to politics, so much so as to also separate personal current accounts and use for political activity exclusively dedicated and ‘transparent’ accounts, with crediting and spending tools tracked, traceable and always rigorously documented”, states the governor.
“The absence of any connection between money donations and my political attention to issues of public interest” can be demonstrated by cross-referencing my agenda with the reporting of the reported payments. “In this way – we read in the memorandum delivered to the prosecutors of Genoa – it will be clear that the attention and commitment I have shown in the policies of listening and lawful facilitation of private investments has been totally disconnected from any contribution received”. “The activity of supporting and listening to private initiatives did not have as its prerequisite or aim that of political or personal closeness or, even, the presence of a contribution (even if it was legitimate in all respects); the only reason for my action is was to help private initiative to make Liguria grow”, he underlines.
In the same way, he writes, “I have never felt indebted to those who had contributed to my political initiative: the fact of being a contributor or in any case politically close has never represented a qualification for receiving favors or preferential treatment on my part; nor has there ever been any attitude of mine that could in any way give rise to such a thought”.
The Genoa prosecutor’s office “erroneously” interprets the transfers made by the entrepreneur Aldo Spinelli and does not remember that the first donation from the Spinelli group “to the political campaigns of my party dates back to the first electoral campaign (2015) when I was not yet governor and yes they happened over time with cadences linked, if anything, to the political events of the Region (municipal, regional elections or various events) and not linked to specific economic situations or the co-presence of events of interest to Spinelli”, Toti continues.
Therefore, taking into account the long time span, 9 years, “we can easily deduce the absence of any practice of contextuality between requests for ‘attention’ from a donor and solicitation of material support for political activity”. For Toti “certainly the administration’s precise policy of attention to the needs of businesses and citizens has an impact on the construction of the animus with which the donation takes place, but the presumption of specific utilities linked to a single and specific situation certainly does not have an impact, less less than acts contra legem”. Not only that: “By recording each payment, not only by the receiving Toti Committee, but also by the company or the donor, it appears clear that the donor himself in no way considers his donation of money as a commodity of exchange or payment of a illicit interest, an activity that even he himself would take it upon himself to denounce by publicizing the payment” concludes Toti.
“In dealing with Aldo Spinelli, I became interested in the issues he raised in a way that was often disconnected from the context and totally alien to the spirit of the conversation, through an intervention always dictated by the spirit of public utility and often even in conflict with the interests of Spinelli himself but in favor – in fact – of other operators”, he adds.
For example, the president of the Liguria Region reports, “there has never been any intervention on my part regarding the duration of the concession, which was also drawn up by the technical offices of the Port Authority without any interference from the Region”. In the precautionary custody order and from the investigation papers it emerges, Toti claims, “that I intervened not only against Spinelli, but also against all the other operators involved”. In all cases “my action must be considered in its factual reality as an activity aimed at pursuing the primary interest of the port” adds Toti. The Spinelli project, which included luxury accommodation with relevant catering and leisure services and an adjoining luxury hotel, “did not receive any specific preferential treatment. On the contrary, it is important to underline that the beach in question is still a free beach, a sign that my attention was limited to mere interest in the possibilities available by law to help investment, in the public interest”, concludes the Ligurian governor.
“I won the elections with around 380 thousand votes. The support of the Riesina community takes the form, in the investigations, with a certain approximation, of 400 votes, just for proportion and to understand that the contribution is not such as to disturb the democratic balance of the vote”, he writes again. “The Testa brothers were presented as political activists with positions in the Lombardy Region by two honorable members. In their CV there were political positions linked to the Lombardy Regional Council” and “the fact of being from Riese and their representatives cannot be equivalent to being considered as people of malfeasance”, adds the president of the Liguria Region who rejects the accusation of vote swapping and underlines that he has met the Testa brothers “at most twice”. For Toti, “at the end of a long reconstruction, no specific benefit went to the Riesina community, neither in jobs nor otherwise. Since they were dealing, as can be seen from the same investigations, with people who were insistent on their behavior and expressions, it is possible that some jokes even between me and staff have been taken out of context.”
“The investigation system has shortcomings and errors” in particular, regarding port issues, such as bunker, Concenter lowering tomb and bulk terminal. “None of the documents are prepared with my active participation nor with that of my offices. All the proposals came from third parties and were processed and evaluated by the offices according to the terms of the law”, she claims.
In particular, the duration of the Bulk Terminal concession “was determined by the offices according to regulatory and operational criteria” and “the requirements for filling the hauls are functional to the developments of the port, planned by the Port Authority”, the proposal to assign the Enel bunker to the Spinelli group “was prepared by the Port Authority offices and not subject to either administrative or technical evaluation by the Region offices”. In this sense, “it is clear that my intervention on the events did not concern the acts themselves and their quality, but was a simple work of mediation and solicitation for the realization of a purely public interest”.
“With regards to the discussion on the future port master plan, having noted that regional competences do not pertain to the planning phase but to the subsequent authorization phase, I consider it appropriate to specify that the discussion activity has been constantly carried out with all the subjects of the port community, without favoritism and any partiality. As could be seen from a mere reading of the documents, dialogue has never been a specific prerogative, much less exclusive, of the Spinelli group”.
2024-05-23 15:47:02
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